Ashfield, Samuel (1857-1921)

Samuel Ashfield was a commission merchant and lumberman. He lived at 1050 Gilford Street from 1914 to 1919.

He was born in Ottawa, Ontario on November 29, 1857. His father was John Ashfield; his mother was Elizabeth Stevenson.

He lived in Ottawa for much of his life. For some time he was involved in the crockery business.

In August 1891, he was in Ottawa, where he was a witness at the wedding of his sister, Maggie, to Samuel Ransom Hughes.

In September 1891, he was one of several witnesses who gave evidence at the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts. The committee was investigating allegations that civil servants gaining personally from government purchasing arrangements. Samuel Ashfield described the normal business practices of discounts to regular customers, but said that he did not give personal benefits to private individuals in relation to government purchases.

Throughout the 1890s, he was in Vancouver from time to time, where Ashfield and Company had a wholesale merchant business. In 1898, he appeared on the British Columbia voters list, with an address in Vancouver at the corner of Burrard Street and Dunsmuir Street.

In 1901 he was back in Ottawa, living with other members of his family.

By 1911, Samuel was living in Winnipeg, where he was in the lumber business. On January 25, 1911, in Vancouver, he married Isabelle McDowell Erskine. She was born in July 1870 in County Antrim, Ireland. Her father was Robert Erskine; her mother was Ellen Jane McKinty.

Samuel died in Vancouver on June 25, 1921. He was buried in Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Isabelle died in Vancouver on January 7, 1951. She was also buried in Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby.

Society, Vancouver Province, January 23, 1911, page 5: “A quiet church wedding which took place Saturday night at the Wesley Methodist Church was that of Miss Bell Erskine and Mr. Samuel Ashville [sic]. The ceremony was solemnized in the presence of the immediate family and intimate friends only, with Dr. Richardson and Miss L. Buttimer as attendants. Mr. A.E. Erskine, brother of the bride, gave the bride away. Mr. and Mrs. Ashville will spend a few months touring California and Mexico, after which they will make their home in Winnipeg for a time. Mr. Ashville has large lumber interests in Eastern Canada, which he intends disposing of in the near future and transferring his business to the Coast, in which even Mr. and Mrs. Ashville will make Vancouver their permanent home.”

“Samuel Ashfield, 30 Years a Resident of Vancouver, Died Today,” Vancouver Province, June 25, 1921, page 80: “The death occurred early this morning of Mr. Samuel Ashfield, known here and in Winnipeg with the lumber business, and recently connected with the Northwest Lumber & Commission Co. Mr. Ashfield had been an invalid for the last six years. On Thursday morning he suffered a stroke and passed away this morning without regaining consciousness. He leaves his wife, a brother in Ottawa, and one in Los Angeles, and two sisters, Mrs. Hughes of Toronto and Mrs. Brown of Winnipeg. The funeral services will be private, and will be held on Monday morning at 10 o’clock from Center & Hanna’s chapel to Ocean View Burial Park.”